Lawsuit

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder's administration has settled its portion of a lawsuit challenging union dues for child-care providers who work at home. The state has been dismissed from the lawsuit in exchange for pledging that it will never force child-care workers to pay dues as a condition of getting public subsidies to watch kids from low-income families. The Snyder administration ended the practice earlier this year but a lawsuit still is active in federal court.

DETROIT (AP) — A federal judge in Detroit is holding a status conference in a 3-month-old lawsuit that challenges the government's new health care law. The Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor filed a lawsuit on behalf of itself and four people from southeastern Michigan who don't have private health insurance and object to being told to purchase coverage. U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh has scheduled a status conference for Tuesday. The plaintiffs have asked for a preliminary injunction, saying the new health law is unconstitutional.

TRAVERSE CITY (AP) — An environmental group is suing the state of Michigan over an air quality permit issued for a planned refinery in the Upper Peninsula that will produce ethanol from wood. The Sierra Club says in a complaint filed Tuesday that the Department of Natural Resources and Environment should have rejected the permit application from Frontier Renewable Resources LLC. The company's plant near Kinross is scheduled to begin operating in 2013. The group says the permit was granted in September under standards for minor polluters, even though the company plans to expand the facility and significantly increase the amount of toxins it pumps into the air. The DNRE declined comment on the lawsuit.

SUTTONS BAY, Mich. (AP) - Leelanau County's board of commissioners voted to settle a federal lawsuit brought three years ago by several deputies who accused the county sheriff and undersheriff of eavesdropping on their private conversations and other misconduct. County officials wouldn't reveal the settlement terms, but county Administrator Chet Janik said financial and other details would be available once attorneys file a final agreement with the court. "That document will be public," Janik told the Traverse City Record-Eagle for a story published Thursday.

CHARLEVOIX — Charlevoix County and former county electrical inspector Jim Eisley have settled a lawsuit in which Eisley claimed he was wrongfully fired from his job in January of 2009. On May 5, the judge presiding over the case signed an order demising the case "with prejudice" based upon an agreement between the parties that the county would pay Eisley $40,000. When a case is dismissed "with prejudice" it means that the plaintiff (Eisley) is barred from re-filing another lawsuit for the same matter against the defendants.

DETROIT (AP) -- There is no happy ending for a Detroit-area man who challenged the high price of movie snacks. A Wayne County judge dismissed Jason Thompson's lawsuit Friday, saying the Michigan Consumer Protection Act doesn't apply. Thompson claimed a Livonia theater was illegally gouging customers after he paid $8 for a soda and chocolate-covered peanuts in December. Bruce Sendek, a lawyer for American Multi-Cinema, says no one is forced to buy snacks at movies. He notes that the price of any product can vary greatly depending on where it's sold.

EAST JORDAN - A local business owner is part of a federal lawsuit filed against the state, part of an effort to strike down a new regulation in fireworks laws. Bruce Tyree, of East Jordan, is co-owner of Eastpointe-based Great Lakes Fireworks, one of eight businesses that sell fireworks in Michigan that joined together in a lawsuit filed this month in U.S. District Court. The suit seeks to compel the state to throw out the $10 million insurance coverage requirement for fireworks peddlers.

Emmet County Circuit Court judge Charles Johnson granted the Petoskey News-Review's motion requiring Charlevoix County to produce six disputed emails for the judge to review during a hearing Monday, Oct. 17. Johnson also granted Charlevoix County's motion to dismiss Charlevoix County Prosecutor John Jarema and county commissioner Chris Christensen from the case as individuals. The Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners and the Charlevoix County Prosecutor's Office remain as defendants.

HARBOR SPRINGS -- A former principal who sued Harbor Springs Public Schools in U.S. District Court citing a hostile work environment recently settled out of court with the school district for an undisclosed amount. Former principal Karey Scholten, 44, filed a lawsuit seeking more than $75,000 in damages in 2012 alleging the school district and superintendent Mark Tompkins, created a highly stressful work environment that led to a drunk driving arrest in August 2011 and that she was wrongly removed from her job as principal.

WALLOON LAKE -- Stephen and Molly Kircher responded Monday to a lawsuit filed against them in March over a fence the couple installed around their Walloon Lake home. Stephen Kircher is president of Boyne Resorts' eastern operations and the son of Boyne Resorts founder, Everett Kircher. The original complaint was filed in Charlevoix County's 33rd Circuit Court by the nonprofit corporation, Preserve the Path. The fence, the complaint states, blocks and reroutes a historic pathway that runs about three miles from the village of Walloon Lake, along the northeast shoreline to what is commonly referred to as "The Narrows.

The Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit against Michigan and two other Great Lakes states, calling for protection of the gray wolf in all three states. "Plaintiffs, animal protection and conservation organizations, challenge the decision of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to strip gray wolves in the Great Lakes region of protection under the Endangered Species Act," says the opening of the lawsuit document. The Humane Society filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.'s United States District Court.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - A judge has dropped Traverse City's government from a lawsuit filed by the family of a young man who died after getting an electric shock as he swam near a municipal marina. The Traverse City Record-Eagle ( http://bit.ly/14vyOLC ) reports Wednesday that Circuit Judge Thomas Power ruled the city had governmental immunity in the case. But the suit against the marina manager is going forward. Eighteen-year-old Michael Knudsen of Mancelona died in August 2011 while swimming in Grand Traverse Bay. City documents show two separate breaks in an electric power line leaked electricity into the water.

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit by a deaf lifeguard who says his rights were violated when Oakland County declined to hire him. The court said Thursday that a judge used the wrong legal standard when he ruled in favor of the county and dismissed the lawsuit in 2011. Nicholas Keith has been deaf since birth in 1980 and is unable to speak. But he can detect noises, whistles and people calling for him through a cochlear implant. Keith was offered a job by Oakland County, but the offer was dropped after officials talked to liability consultants.

GRAND HAVEN (AP) - The family of an 11-year-old boy who was killed while sledding at a Grand Haven park is blaming a part-time groundskeeper. Chance Nash of Nunica died in 2009 when he struck a branch that had fallen at Duncan Park. The injury to his abdomen caused fatal internal bleeding. It is the third lawsuit filed against various defendants associated with the park. The other cases have been dismissed. The latest lawsuit accuses 71-year-old groundskeeper Robert DeHare of not keeping the sledding area free of hazards.

HARBOR SPRINGS - The Harbor Springs Public School District has filed its response to a lawsuit brought against it by former principal Karey Scholten, and the district denies allegations that Scholten worked in a hostile environment and was wrongfully removed from her position as a principal. Scholten's lawsuit, filed with the United States District Court, also alleges discrimination based on disability, gender and retaliation. She initially filed the complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Nov. 7, 2011, and received a right-to-sue letter in April of 2012.

HARBOR SPRINGS - A judge has ruled the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Tribal Council must allow the tribal chairman the power to veto spending, under the tribe's constitution. Associate Judge James Genia, presiding for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Tribal Court, in his formal order last week said the tribal council had extended its power unconstitutionally and stated "the tribal council's appropriation of funds must at the very least be submitted to the tribal chairperson for his approval or opportunity to veto.

CHARLEVOIX -- John Jarema responded Thursday to a lawsuit filed against him by a former employee of his, Shaynee Fanara. The outgoing Charlevoix County prosecutor denied all six counts brought against him and against Charlevoix County by his former chief assistant prosecutor, including sexual harassment, defamation, retaliation, deprivation of free speech, deprivation of liberty and intentional interference with contractual relations. Jarema was defeated in the August primary election by incoming prosecuting attorney Alan Telgenhof who will take over the county prosecutor's office Jan. 1. The lawsuit was filed with the United States District Court Western District of Michigan, in Grand Rapids, on Oct. 1. Charlevoix County has yet to respond to the lawsuit.

HASTINGS, Mich. (AP) - A lawsuit has been filed seeking to invalidate a Michigan auction of state-owned oil and gas lease rights. MLive.com reports the lawsuit in Barry County Circuit Court in Hastings claims the state's Department of Natural Resources isn't protecting the Barry State Game Area and the Allegan State Game Area. Michigan Land Air Water Defense also seeks to invalidate state leases auctioned in May. DNR spokesman Ed Golder says the auction took place Wednesday and the DNR plans to fight the claim in court.